Dan Henderson vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
The fight was in the opening round of the Pride 2005 middleweight grand prix. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira went on to lose to Mauricio Rua in the quarterfinals. The Fight The first round began and they touched gloves. Henderson landed a leg kick. They exchanged missing and Henderson slipped briefly. Henderson landed a leg kick. Nine twenty. Henderson landed a leg kick and ate a jab. Henderson missed a body shot and they clinched. Eight fifty. Henderson landed a kick inside to the inner thigh and a knee to the thigh as well. Henderson got the beautiful trip throw to side control and they scrambled, eight twenty-five. Henderson staying on top in north-south basically landing hammerfists and they rolled, Henderson still had the back sort of. Henderson stood and Nogueira laid on his back. His nose was bloody. The fight was paused to clean the nose of Nogueira. Seven fifty-five. They continued. Nogueira landed a counter. Another counter combinaton and they clinched. Nogueira landed a knee to the body. Seven thirty-five. Not much going on. Seven ten and the referee broke them up. Henderson was putting his hands on his knees already, not a good sign. No wait, maybe a groin blow? They continued. Six fifty-five. Nogueira landed a counter and dropped Henderson and was all over him in guard with a few left hands. Henderson was trying to control the arms and head and he shoved Nogueira off and stood. Six twenty-five. Fast-paced fight even for Pride. Nogueira slipped the big right and landed a counter combination, slipped legit and dodged a combination wildly and they clinched. Six minutes. Nogueira landed a big left inside and ate a right. They broke. Henderson shot for the single, Nogueira pulled guard. Five forty-five remaining. Nogueira rolled and he had an omoplata after a moment. Six fifteen. Henderson was struggling to pull out. Four forty-five. Henderson pulled out standing over Nogueira. He stood over him some more, came down with a big right. He almost put his arm in another omoplata but pulled out. Nogueira landed some hammerfists from the bottom with four minutes remaining. 'Henderson listen to me, pull out!' Henderson stood and let Nogueira up. They continued. Henderson was tired. Nogueira landed a right hand and dodged the counter. Three thirty. Nogueira landed a big knee as Henderson came in and they clinched. Three fifteen. Henderson landed some knees to the legs. Two fifty-five remaining. The referee broke them up with two fifty remaining. Nogueira's nose was still bleeding pretty nicely. Two thirty-five. Henderson missed a pair of looping rights and shot for a single, Nogueira was defending. He shoved Henderson away and turtled him up. Henderson tried to pull guard and Nogueira got on top to side control and began looking for a kimura and stepped over for it for an armbar with two minutes remaining and he got it after a moment and Henderson tapped with one forty-eight remaining in the round. Hell of a fight.